Somaliland: World Cup of Countries that do not Exist Officially

Somalilandsun – Twelve Football teams representing Stateless nations, unrecognised countries, self-declared republics, ethnic groups and indigenous communities are in Sukhum the capital of Abkhazia participating in a World Cup for countries unable to join FIFA .The tournament has been organised by the Confederation of Independent Football Associations (Conifa), which represents national teams unable to join Fifa, the sport’s world governing body.Somaliland is among the the twelve teams playing at the Dinamo stadium in the CONIFA tournament dubbed #Abkhazia2016 to determine the World Champion outside FIFA*:Other teams in the tournament that started on the 29th May and ends on the 5th June include hosts Abkhazia, Chagos Islands,Kurdistan, Northern Cyprus,Padania,Panjab, Raetia, Sapmi, szekely Land, United Koreans in Japan and Western Armenia.According to a BBC report Per-Anders Blind, the president and co-founder of CONIFA, says he is trying to give a voice to voiceless communities around the world.“For me, it’s a peace project,” he said. “We have a mission to create a global arena for the forgotten people, we have so many members that are not recognised around the world. We want to educate the world about all the different ethnicities and indigenous people that we have on this planet.”Continue reading A World Cup for Unrecognized States